Did FFXIV make me racist?

[Rinuko]

I'm not english by native either. I'm even in a large FC where people are swedish and it's even bit weird not to type in english sometimes.

On the subject I believe french/german got a bad rep. I've seen good and really good players but also very bad people who can't even type english which is to me bit stupid since most countrys if not all in the west teaches english in school?

[Synrin]

This type of behavior depends on the individual, really. Some speak and understand english, but still fail...

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

It made me racist.

Everytime i see a lalafel i want to see them being sent to labor camps to die under the coerthan winter. But hey, thats me.

[Zari]

On Phoenix people in high end content generally seem to get somewhat wary whenever there is a French language only player in a party full of English speakers. There are German players around too but it always seems to be the French ones that end up being the 1 person in the party that doesn't speak the language the rest of the party speaks.

The main issue is that if they don't already know what they are doing there is no real way to properly explain things to them. Yes auto translate is there but that can only do so much.

[ruskie]

I wish square would make a server for just french and one for just german players. that really help party finders, duty finder would still be a problem.

Technically the unofficial F server is if I recall correctly Moogle and the unofficial D server is Shiva - so the community mostly sorted that bit out on their own.

Me? I don't care - if you can do your job, handle any mechanics that you are meant to handle, are perceptive to instructions - you'll do fine.

And to be honest I think the worst content you can get that will block you in language - Aurum Vale - once got into a J,E,D and F team there. Somehow we made it through though. Everything else seems easy after that hehe.

[CorbinDallas]

In my experience German speakers tend to be very polite and apologetic when you ask them to use auto translate. I was in a Sephirot EX learning group with 7, and in Teamspeak, for my benefit, they all spoke English. I was so grateful. French speakers on the other hand, have 99% of the time been ignorant, selfish, and downright rude when asked to try communicating in a language we all get, i.e. auto translate.

Me: {Please use the Auto Translate function}
French: Frenfrenchfrenchfrenchfrench

It's like, I'm not asking because I'm a dick, it's because I want the duty to run as smooth as possible.

Story time. Me and my friend were in levelling roulette, the dragoon (go figure), isn't dodging AoEs and spamming only one skill. I start off being nice, using auto translate to ask them to dodge and suggested they use things like Heavy Thrust for a dps boost. Frenchfrenchfrenchfrenchfrenchfrench. The other french player (who to their credit, was communicating with us, go you Mr 1%) translated for us (tl;dr) "it's my sub I can do what I want". Instant vote dismiss. Seriously, if you're gonna refuse to communicate, don't even fucking bother queueing up with any other language than your own.

[Serilda]

I'm another FFXI refugee so I'm used to a world where a variety of languages are spoken. I used to play on a server with a large multilingual community, but I started before the English version was released and used the Japanese client. For many years I was in a non-English-speaking linkshell, so I have had a lot of experiences on both sides of the language divide. FFXI didn't broadcast your language settings so clearly, and I've been in parties where the Japanese speakers say "Oh no, an English-speaking player, let's disband" the moment someone joins and accidentally/deliberately speaks in English instead of the party's main language. I've also been in parties where a lone English-speaker (or so they thought!) would curse at the Japanese players, making fun of them for not understanding until I spoke up and told them off. And sometimes people used auto-translate thoughtlessly in a way which they thought was cute, except it sounded incredibly rude to people reading the translated version; I wish there was an in-game auto-translate dictionary so you could see what you're actually saying to the other party in their language too for the benefit of multilingual people.

Then there were good parties where someone who didn't speak Japanese would try really hard to use auto-translate (when it became available) and online dictionaries to communicate in a simple way, even if they had to write in roomaji instead of Japanese characters, and the Japanese players would break out their English textbooks and try to reciprocate. The general rule was that both groups have to try to compromise rather than trying to force their language on the other, and if nobody would do that then the party isn't going to work and everyone will come away with a bad impression of the other side.

In XIV, I play on a Japanese server in a Japanese data centre and speak good English, good Japanese, average German and very basic French. I don't select F or D in duty finder because I'm not confident in being able to communicate detailed strategies in those languages but I'll happily act as a translator when needed and I don't mind at all if people with no English/Japanese knowledge end up in my group. However, I see all kinds of strange things from people who seem to decide that other human beings are NPCs and think it's fine to flag for languages they can't understand at all. Sometimes they put a message in their search comment explaining that actually, they don't speak that language and flagged it for faster queues. They cause everyone massive inconvenience.

On Japanese servers, it's the English-speaking players who speak no other languages which cause everyone to react in the exact same way as the Moogle players are describing when they meet French-speaking players. English speakers who don't have any other languages selected will generally be rude, refuse to use auto translate and type irrelevant, inappropriate things because they assume nobody can understand them (I won't soon forget the lone English-only player I met in FL who started off with a horrible rape joke right in the middle of the strategy discussion - naturally, I reported him). My friend is often approached by weird overly-friendly strangers attracted to his cute female Miqo'te; they're always English-speakers. Even when I translate instructions for English-only flagged players, many will ignore me because they're so used to being able to get away with not understanding the discussion that they don't want to communicate with a translator.

While there are, of course, many exceptions, it's the bad players everyone remembers rather than the good ones and this makes it harder for everyone who makes an effort. I've never had a single problem with French or German players in this server group; in fact, I felt so sorry for a French-only speaker who spent days trying to do the simple guildhests needed for the MSQ in PF because he'd flagged his language choice correctly in DF that I dragged my FC buddies to help him out (Japanese players almost never flag French or German, so he was having a hard time). He was a perfectly good player and even tried to use a few English words when I explained my French wasn't great. It sucks that a general lack of consideration across language barriers means that people like him will probably end up hitting a wall and quitting one day. Communication really makes a difference in how fun a session will be, so when there are problems or people lie about the effort they're willing to put in things can go downhill very quickly.

[Chessala]

Let me put one thing straight: I do not hate French people, I work with a lot of them every day and many of them are great.
What I dislike a bad players. Unfortunately, the majority of bad players I have encountered in DF and PF are French. There are a few French players that are great and I gladly group with them.

I am a native German and while I have German ticked, I use an English client and basically only speak German in PMs or if there is no other way in a party (to translate so we get somewhere). I always apologize for using German in a party where only 1 person does not speak the language because I find it impolite to do so. I also always give a sum-up to the others with what I said or will say.

I don't have a problem with people not speaking a certain language but if you encounter people that do not speak your language, at least make an effort to communicate. On PS? Use a phone translator (just hold it against the picture and it translates the text). On PC? tab and use google translate. Or use the auto-translate function. There are several ways to communicate but do not just do your thing and suck.

Many of the French players I have encountered do exactly that though. They don't say anything or make fun of you. I have met some Germans like that too and no, it is NOT ok. The notion at my work place from people that play FFXIV is: even the French players hate the French players. And from what I see here, this is very true. What I have encountered from many of them is pure ignorance and no desire to get better.

Also, sometimes my OH tries to explain something in French (not perfect with it but at least we try) and usually all we get for it is vitriol because the French is not perfect....really encouraging....

Just yesterday I made a PF for Sephi ex and specifically took of FR as language. I ended up with 2 people exclusively on FR and they sucked.

[Neophyte]

In my experience German speakers tend to be very polite and apologetic when you ask them to use auto translate. I was in a Sephirot EX learning group with 7, and in Teamspeak, for my benefit, they all spoke English. I was so grateful. French speakers on the other hand, have 99% of the time been ignorant, selfish, and downright rude when asked to try communicating in a language we all get, i.e. auto translate.

Most germans attend english lessons at least from 11yo until 16-18yo in secondary school. Since a few years many start learning even in pre-school and elementary school.
It's mandatory in most schools, there are only a few where you can choose to learn Latin/French/Spain/Russia as your first foreign language.
It happens often that all 8 players speak English and discuss the content when some1 recognizes: 'Oh, sind ja alle deutsch. -.-'


As far as I know french students (if not by elective course) often start learning english only 2-3 years before their graduation or not at all.

[Kingmanath]

I'm a French player, and this is my point of view, from my experience (excuse my english ^^) :

* A majority of good players, no matter their mother tongue, play in FC, LS or statics. French players too. I know lot of very good players who clear HL with french or multilingual statics. But you'll never see them in DF.

* French troll you can meet are usually teenagers or stupid people, hopefully we are not all the same.

* You can speak with bad E players, at least they understand what you explain, so you can have the feeling they are better than F ones who don't/can't answer.

* Last point ! When a French player speaks in a general chan (for a FC or a PF), many players answer with "baguettes", "j'aime le fromage" or others few words they know. I can tell you something : it's not really fun, you just look ridiculous
--> Imagine if we did this when you speak in general chan : "Burger, Coca, Queen, Lady Di" all day long u_u'